Chinese officials made some big promises to get the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which begin today.

They seem poised to deliver on several of them, including the unveiling of two iconic stadiums and an impeccably planned schedule of events.

But it’s also clear that China is coming up woefully short on other important pledges. Those failures and the deafening silence from the International Olympic Committee raise questions about the real agenda in awarding the Games to China.

Despite promises, China failed to improve its abysmal human rights record. In applying for the Games, it said journalists would have the freedoms necessary to do their jobs, which hasn’t panned out.

And then there is the polluted Beijing air, which the Chinese have spent more than $17 billion trying to clean up. The jury is still out as to whether the air will be clear enough for athletes to deliver peak performances.

The Chinese desperately want the $40billion Games to be lauded as a success – a showcase for athletes reaching superlative heights against the backdrop of a perfect city.

Unfortunately, the early reports paint a far from perfect picture.

Instead of human rights improvements, the situation has worsened. Even as Beijing publicized the establishment of “protest zones,” dissidents were detained or jailed. So-called troublemakers have been denied entry to the country. In Beijing, taxi cabs are wired for eavesdropping. And Tibet, which has long clashed with Chinese authorities, remains closed to the outside world.

Furthermore, journalists in Beijing to cover the Games have reported their Internet access is being filtered, with some Web sites being blocked.

Inexplicably, the IOC appears impotent in applying pressure on the Chinese to keep their promises. That is, if the IOC is even trying.

In the face of growing concern by athletes over air quality, the IOC’s chief medical commissioner said Tuesday that the Beijing air looks like pea soup because of its “humidity.” What?

The U.S. Olympic Committee seems to be taking its cues from the IOC. When four members of the U.S. cycling team got off a plane in China wearing air masks distributed by the USOC, their actions were questioned by USOC officials. USOC CEO Jim Scherr reportedly said the cyclists were “overly cautious.” The cyclists ended up making a public apology to the Chinese.

The events leave us wondering why the great effort to soothe the country’s ego?

Kowtowing to the Chinese wouldn’t have anything to do with the country’s massive economic might, would it? Surely, it has nothing to do with the huge corporate entities that sponsor the Games dearly coveting greater access to China’s giant consumer market, right?

As the Games begin in splendor, it’s worth considering that the real competition very well may be over economics and not athletics. That would be a sad distortion of Olympic ideals.